Why you can trust GamesRadar+
Liberal Arts is a comedy. But when a movie opens with a quote from Ecclesiastes , you’d be forgiven for expecting a brow-furrowing drama laden with hefty intentions...
How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor’s second movie as writer/director/actor (after 2010’s Happythankyoumoreplease ) is a cute, funny indie charmer, with a twist of sadcore wit that’s just slightly too self-conscious.
Radnor plays a thirtysomething literature-lover who’s been drifting through his adult life ever since graduating in English with a history minor.
But a return to university leads to a meet-cute with 19-year-old student Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), who triggers romance, nostalgia and his late-bloom coming-of-age.
She’s 19. He’s 35.
He’s done the maths. And Radnor’s campus romcom is full of characters who feel nudged from their niche: adults who wish they were back at uni and students who wish they were out in the world.
It’s witty and heartfelt but – perhaps a hangover from Radnor’s sitcom style – too much of the dialogue feels written down and read out rather than spur-of-the- moment spoken.
Radnor’s an easy actor to watch, mind, although not a patch on his glowing co-star.
Almost too good to be true, Olsen’s the girl that shy, bookish guys only really meet in the movies.
Elsewhere, Zac Efron can’t do much as a lazily written slacker full of equally meaningless life mantras.
But there’s a much-needed pulse of reality from reluctant retiree Richard Jenkins and Allison Janney as an English professor who’s sick of “effete, over-articulate manboys”.
Lines – and performances – like that help Radnor avoid the same inertia affecting his character.
Star Wars Outlaws is "removing forced stealth from almost all quest objectives"
Xbox Game Pass subscribers can now stream 50 "select" games from their own libraries, letting you "play Baldur's Gate 3 on mobile"
Daniel Craig and Challengers director Luca Guadagnino are looking to join James Gunn's DC Universe with Sgt. Rock movie